Daily News

March 3, 2006

Stephen Lewis, a Canadian icon who has established a global presence through his humanitarian and political roles, will be delivering a much anticipated lecture this weekend at McMaster University. Appointed in 2001 as the United Nations' Special Envoy for HIV/AIDS in Africa, Mr. Lewis has led the worldwide campaign to raise awareness about this devastating pandemic. Named by Macleans magazine as the "Canadian of the Year" in 2003, and recently in 2005 as one of TIME magazine's "100 most influential people in the world", Lewis has no doubt left an impression on the world. Lewis is featured as a keynote speaker of McMaster's Global Citizenship Conference taking place this weekend from March 3 to 5 in MDCL. His lecture, sponsored by the Faculty of Social Science, will be a rare and exciting event, as Lewis has given talks around the globe in many influential roles including the Canadian Ambassador to the UN, and the Deputy Director of UNICEF. A limited number of tickets to his lecture will be available as of Tuesday, Feb. 28.

March 2, 2006

A new affiliation agreement signed yesterday by McMaster University and St. Peter's Health System will result in more research on issues affecting adults with chronic illness and training of health care professionals in the care of these individuals. Each year, many McMaster students come to St. Peter's for practical hands-on training in complex care. The renewed affiliation agreement further enhances this academic association, as well as emphasizes the commitment of both St. Peter's and McMaster University to research in this area.

March 2, 2006

Beginning March 14, McMaster's Department of Religious Studies will be presenting Hooker Distinguished Visiting Professor Gary A. Anderson for a series of public lectures. Anderson is presently professor of Old Testament/Hebrew Bible at Notre Dame University. He has taught at the University of Virginia and Harvard Divinity School, and he has been a senior fellow at the Institute for Advanced Studies at Hebrew University. His awards include a Luce Fellowship and grants from the National Endowment of the Humanities.

March 2, 2006

Three McMaster University rowers are currently at a National Team Development camp getting ready for National Team crews for the summer. Alan and Aubrey Oldham (twins that represented Canada at the World Under 23 Championships, 2005) as well as their fellow McMaster oarsman Doug Csima (who represented Ontario at the Canada Summer Games in 2005 as well as posted the fastest Under 23 men's score in Canada at the Canadian Indoor Rowing Championships, 2006 in Toronto) left Feb. 25 for Victoria, B.C. for a National Team training camp.

March 2, 2006

McMaster's campus libraries would like to know how well they are meeting the needs and expectations of their users. From March 6 - 26, the libraries will participate in LibQUAL +", a web-based survey which is part of a North American effort led by the Association of Research Libraries(ARL) to measure satisfaction with library services, collections and facilities, and to identify best practices. In the next few days, an email will be sent to a random selection of undergraduate and graduate students, faculty and staff inviting them to participate in the survey, which takes between 8 and 13 minutes to complete. Responses will be confidential; no identifying links between responses and the individual responding will be retained. The libraries will receive initial results in May, and will share final results with the campus community by fall 2006.

March 1, 2006

As has been widely reported in the media, two women, one of whom is a third-year medical student at McMaster University, has been linked by Mexican authorities to the double slaying of an Ontario couple while on holiday in Mexico. Student Cheryl Everall was quoted in today's Toronto Star as saying that McMaster has been "wonderful" about letting her take a break from exams to cope with the stress of the Mexican situation.

February 28, 2006

McMaster University's first-year and fourth-year undergraduates are currently being polled by a North American-wide survey about their experience at McMaster. The National Survey of Student Engagement (NSSE) asks students to assess their classes, faculty and friends. They are asked about their interaction with faculty, the quality and timeliness of the feedback, and whether expectations are communicated effectively. It asks whether a co-operative attitude exists among students, whether students are engaged in active learning and new ways of learning, and if there is respect for diverse talents. The results of the survey are used by institutions to see how they stack up against their peers in the delivery of student programs and services. The survey takes about 15 minutes complete.

February 28, 2006

New research into a missing link in climatology shows that the Earth was not overcome by a greenhouse period when dinosaurs dominated, but experienced rapid fluctuations in temperature and sea level change that resulted in a balance of the global carbon cycle. The study is being published in the March issue of Geology. "Most people think the mid-Cretaceous period was a super-greenhouse," says Darren Gr

February 28, 2006

The concept of leadership can invoke many different things for many people. For some it is hierarchical, for others it is a process of self-growth and development; some may see leadership as a position, and some feel it is about the relationships they build with others. These definitions are by no means mutually exclusive. Each one of us must apply our own understanding of leadership and what it is to be a leader to our daily lives. With this thought in mind, the Centre for Student Development provides students with an opportunity to explore their ideas about leadership and develop their leadership skills through the Dr. Mary E. Keyes Leadership Programme. Students work towards a leadership certificate through attending a series of workshops and engaging in volunteer service, or they can participate in any of the workshops that might be of interest to them and review various resources on the leadership website. This year, the leadership programme is offering two events intended for students, staff, faculty, and community members. Leadership peers and staff have chosen March as "Leadership Month" during which two key events are planned: an annual Poster Series and the first ever Leadership Speaker Series. The goal of both series is to highlight the concept of leadership not only on campus but also in the community. The poster series will focus on various student team leadership opportunities available across campus and recognize the work of the students and the projects and programmes they have worked on. Nine posters will be displayed in the lobby of Mills library from March 14 to 16 and again on April 3 to 4, 2006 in the McMaster University Student Centre (MUSC).

February 27, 2006

Are you an engineering student who wants to see more of the world? Would you like to study abroad and earn credits while experiencing the culture of Eastern Europe? Well, now you can. The Faculty of Engineering at McMaster has partnered with its colleagues at Michigan State University and two Russian Universities - State University of Architecture and Civil Engineering in Volgograd and St. Petersburg State Polytechnic University - to offer the Engineering Study Abroad Program(ESAP).

February 27, 2006

Repetitive strain injury(RSI) is currently one of the fastest-growing workplace disorders. RSI typically attacks the muscles, tendons and nerves in hands, wrists and elbows as well as the neck, shoulders, back, lower limbs and spine. Though commonly blamed on computer use, RSI can occur just as easily at home and at play. McMaster will hold a full day of workshops and activities on Tuesday, Feb. 28 in an effort to raise awareness among employees about ways to alleviate RSI. Clinics will be held on office layout, design and ergonomics, health and safety ergonomics, culminating with an open forum featuring Steve Peters, Ontario's Minister of Labour.

February 24, 2006

Liss Platt, assistant professor for the Department of Communication Studies and Multimedia, has won the prize for Best Documentary at the United States Super 8mm Film + Digital Video Festival for her work entitled "You Can't Get There From Here." The film is a coming of age story, rife with burgeoning desire, adolescent rebelliousness and family crisis.

February 23, 2006

It is no matter of science that three of McMaster's Millennium Excellence scholars are all students in the bachelor of health sciences program. Rather, it is a matter of dedication and caring for the community. Diana Choi, Randy Ai, and Carol King have all perfected the formula for the foundation's standards of leadership, innovation, community involvement and high grades in order to achieve the top-level award from the Canada Millennium Scholarship Foundation.

February 22, 2006

Two graduates of McMaster University have been named to key positions in Stephen Harper's new government. Kevin Lynch (PhD '80) was appointed Clerk of the Privy Council yesterday. Lynch, who studied economics at McMaster, was former deputy minister in the Department of Finance and executive director for Canada at the International Monetary Fund. He takes up his new position on March 6. Sandra Buckler (BA '95) is Harper's new director of communications. A native of Hamilton, Buckler previously worked as a lobbyist for De Beers Canada, Rogers Wireless, and Coca-Cola, and as communications advisor to Preston Manning, Kim Campbell and Tom Long. She has been a long-time strategist in Conservative backrooms at both the federal and provincial level.

February 21, 2006

Deborah J. Cook, MD, has received the American College of Critical Care Medicine's (ACCM) highest honor, the 2006 Distinguished Investigator Award. The award honors a clinical researcher for meritorious and pioneering research in critical care and for significantly contributing to the understanding of diseases and treatments of critically ill and injured patients. A well-known scientific researcher, "Dr. Cook's research focused on the risk factors for critical illness, prevention of ICU-acquired illness and complications, life support technology, ethics and end-of-life choices for critically ill patients," said Stephen Pastores, MD, who nominated Cook for the award.

February 21, 2006

McMaster's third annual "Brain Bee" will be held this afternoon, (Tuesday, Feb.21). The "Brain Bee" is open to all Hamilton and surrounding area high school students in grades 9 to 12 and this year, there will be more high school students visiting McMaster to compete in it than ever before. The "Brain Bee" competition is modeled after a spelling bee, with students taking turns answering questions about the brain and neuroscience on topics such as intelligence, memory, emotions, movement, stress, aging and sleep. All questions and answers for the local competition will be selected from a single document, a 65-page primer on the brain and nervous system, published by the Society for Neurosciences(available for free download online).

February 21, 2006

McMaster alumna Margot Page '87 had a front row seat for the Olympic gold medal win by the Canadian women' hockey team yesterday, as she is an assistant coach with the team. Page, who graduated with a bachelor of physical education degree in 1987, has spent the last year in Calgary working with the national team. A native of Stoney Creek, she was an Honour M award winner and female athlete of the year award winner while at McMaster and was inducted into the Athletics Hall of Fame.

February 21, 2006

McMaster's Department of English & Cultural Studies is pleased to welcome fiction writer Nooshin Salari as our first International Writer-in-Residence. Nooshin Salari was born in Tabriz, Iran. She immigrated to Canada in 1992 and attended the University of Saskatchewan where obtained her degree in Pharmacy. Salari began writing short stories as a teenager in Tehran, Iran. Her first story, "School Library", appeared in 1980 in Negeen magazine. Since then, her stories have appeared in different literary magazines in Iran including The World of Words and in various volumes of the Anthology of Short Stories by Iranian and World Writers (selected by Safdar Taghizadeh), as well as a collection of short stories by contemporary Iranian female writers called At the Threshold of a Cold Season (selected by Toraj Rahnama and Susan Gaveri).

February 20, 2006

As of September 2006, linguistics and psychology, two disciplines from the opposite sides of campus that both seek to understand the human mind and experience, will come together to form McMaster's newest interdisciplinary program: Linguistic Cognitive Science. Housed in the Department of Modern Languages and Linguistics, the program will combine courses and concepts from both humanities and science, exposing students to a broad range of knowledge and practical skills through distinctive areas of concentration.

February 20, 2006

After a long meeting, Tuesday, Feb. 14, hall and programming representatives of the McMaster Inter-Residence Council elected the remainder of its executive for the upcoming 2006/07 year. After the ballots had been cast and counted, the results were announced.